FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - A former state representative who was fined nearly $18,000 on ethics violations has bowed out of a race for state Senate.

Former state Rep. Alan Dick had filed his intent to challenge state Sen. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, in the August Republican primary. The filing allowed him to start raising funds, but he would have had to file a declaration of candidacy to get his name on the ballot.

But Dick on Tuesday told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://bit.ly/1tgg9is) he withdrew his name on Friday. The change wasn’t reflected in online records, and he didn’t return calls to the newspaper on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s printed story.

However, in a Tuesday interview with the paper, he says he wavered after filing his intent to turn and made the decision to withdraw.